Graduation rates are rising

Published: Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:34 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:34 p.m.

The great news is that more students are graduating in a timely fashion from Nicholls State University.

According to the latest numbers from the university, 41.8 percent of students who began classes in 2005 had graduated within six years.

The figure, which tracks the six-year graduation rates across all colleges and universities, shows an incredibly hopeful trend.

Nicholls State’s six-year rate rose by 10 percentage points from last year to this year.

That is a great movement that holds much promise as the school looks forward to its next generation of students.

Of course, a 41.8 percent graduation rate means that 58.2 percent of students who entered school in 2005 did not graduate within six years.

The most-important thing to remember here, though, is that the movement is in the right direction.

“Graduation rates take a long time to measure,” said Nicholls State President Stephen T. Hulbert. “But these most recent results definitively show that higher-quality students are choosing Nicholls and that we’re providing the services needed to support their success.”

That success story is the result of numerous initiatives, both at Nicholls State and statewide.

But the most-likely reason behind the bulk of the change is the implementation and strengthening of admissions standards.

Admissions standards were not always the norm at Nicholls, which traditionally has been caught between dual roles of a four-year university and a two-year community college.

With L.E. Fletcher Community College in Houma working with Nicholls State more closely, though, the students who might be better off in a two-year setting are getting the education they need while those who are most likely to thrive in a four-year university are poised to do exactly that.

“In most cases, your graduation rates are a result of the students you bring in,” said Nicholls State Executive Vice President Larry Howell. “When we were taking any student with a GED, we’d have people taking seven or eight years to get a degree, and we’d have a lot of people just drop out entirely. That’s not happening anymore.”

Nicholls State is seeing the logical outcome of imposing increasing expectations on its entering students. As long as that can be done while ensuring other students have access to an education as well, the students and the school are likely to thrive.

There is still a long way to go, but the improvement so far says a lot about the job Nicholls and Fletcher are doing.

<p>The great news is that more students are graduating in a timely fashion from Nicholls State University.</p><p>According to the latest numbers from the university, 41.8 percent of students who began classes in 2005 had graduated within six years.</p><p>The figure, which tracks the six-year graduation rates across all colleges and universities, shows an incredibly hopeful trend.</p><p>Nicholls State's six-year rate rose by 10 percentage points from last year to this year.</p><p>That is a great movement that holds much promise as the school looks forward to its next generation of students.</p><p>Of course, a 41.8 percent graduation rate means that 58.2 percent of students who entered school in 2005 did not graduate within six years.</p><p>The most-important thing to remember here, though, is that the movement is in the right direction.</p><p>“Graduation rates take a long time to measure,” said Nicholls State President Stephen T. Hulbert. “But these most recent results definitively show that higher-quality students are choosing Nicholls and that we're providing the services needed to support their success.”</p><p>That success story is the result of numerous initiatives, both at Nicholls State and statewide.</p><p>But the most-likely reason behind the bulk of the change is the implementation and strengthening of admissions standards.</p><p>Admissions standards were not always the norm at Nicholls, which traditionally has been caught between dual roles of a four-year university and a two-year community college.</p><p>With L.E. Fletcher Community College in Houma working with Nicholls State more closely, though, the students who might be better off in a two-year setting are getting the education they need while those who are most likely to thrive in a four-year university are poised to do exactly that.</p><p>“In most cases, your graduation rates are a result of the students you bring in,” said Nicholls State Executive Vice President Larry Howell. “When we were taking any student with a GED, we'd have people taking seven or eight years to get a degree, and we'd have a lot of people just drop out entirely. That's not happening anymore.”</p><p>Nicholls State is seeing the logical outcome of imposing increasing expectations on its entering students. As long as that can be done while ensuring other students have access to an education as well, the students and the school are likely to thrive.</p><p>There is still a long way to go, but the improvement so far says a lot about the job Nicholls and Fletcher are doing.</p><p>Keep up the good work.</p><p>Editorials represent the opinions of</p><p>the newspaper, not of any individual.</p>